“We expected growth in the service provider VoIP and IMS equipment market to slow this year as large operators such as AT&T, Verizon, and NTT DoCoMo commercially launch voice over LTE (VoLTE) and utilize capacity on IMS networks. Following a tremendous 2013, revenue growth has tapered in 2014, though is still positive, with the market up 5% in the third quarter from a year ago,” notes Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics Research. “VoLTE deployments will remain the most important driver, though wireline is still making strong contributions.”

VOIP AND IMS MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Globally, the service provider VoIP and IMS market grew 5% in 3Q14 from 3Q13, to $1 billion

Infonetics expects additional operators in Asia Pacific and Europe to launch VoLTE services in 2015; Apple’s support of VoLTE and voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) has accelerated activity

On a regional basis, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America) notched revenue gains in 3Q14 from the year-ago quarter, North America was down slightly, and Asia Pacific declined after a strong Q2

The top 4 revenue leaders in the carrier VoIP and IMS market in 3Q14 are, in alphabetical order, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Genband, and Huawei